I watched a couple of vlogs from Bald and Bankrupt and Abroad in Japan and when they explore abandoned buildings, a lot of the stuff has remained and has been untouched. In addition, they do not even take stuff form the abandoned place, even valuable stuff (I remember there was an old phone in Chris’s vlog but nobody took it). Even Bald did not take anything (he took a DDR poster in East Germany). How come nobody takes stuff from abandoned places. Are there any strict laws regarding this or is it the Japanese mindset? Or people just not bothered?
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/13c5c1v/why_dont_people_take_stuff_from_haikyo/
9 comments
Two words: ghosts.
Taking stuff that doesn’t belong to you?
It’s garbage that doesn’t belong to you
Because some people aren’t assholes thats why they don’t take anything.
​
>Are there any strict laws regarding this or is it the Japanese mindset?
Theft is a crime, and most people aren’t thieves anywhere in the world. Things that are “abandoned” belong to the owner, heirs of the owner or the government if there isn’t any heir. Whether they take a good care of it or not is irrelevant.
I learned this during my 1st year here. Japan has a very different concept of (private) property. Americans think, “it doesn’t belong to anyone so it could become mine.” Japanese think, “it’s not mine so it can never be mine.”
This was explained to me when I took a snorkel off the beach that had been clearly left behind. It was there for 2 weeks. At the same spot. The owner was long gone from the island. It seemed almost responsible to keep it. 0% chance of meeting back with its owner. Destined for a landfill. My snorkel cracked. I took it. Every foreigner thought this was a justified move. Every Japanese person seemed confused. Eventually one of the Japanese people explained to the others that they had noticed this difference while abroad and it was okay. It kind of made me feel like an a-hole.
I have changed how I view the concept. It’s not yours. It can never be yours.
In addition of being convicted of trespassing, you will also be convicted of theft. It must be very easy to track the person down if they vlog about it. The penalty is probably from fine to imprisonment depending on the severity of the offense.
>Why don’t people take stuff from Haikyo?
Why? Because:
1. [“Finders, keepers”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finders,_keepers) is and never has been a common law / quasi-legal concept in Japan—The opposite idea, “Keepers, keep” is common sense in Japan.
2. Used goods have little value… and bad juju. Used stuff have much less value and household items are seen to retain the spirit of their former (dead) owners.
A big part of the philosophy of urban exploration is to take nothing and try to leave as little trace of your visit as possible. No theft, no graffiti, no vandalism. This is sort of prevalent within the subculture, regardless of nationality. Google up some of the subreddits and other groups on the internet and they’ll have more details.